Welcome to "Every Day with Christ." This is a space to share thoughts and insights about following Christ in everyday life. I will post Bible verses, personal experiences, and pictures. I hope that you will be inspired to share stories of how Christ is working in your everyday life.

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Lessons from the Blind Man

Charlotte Lowrie

Recently my daughter wanted a framed picture to put in her new office. I knew that I had a picture like the one she described, so we set off to my upstairs “junk” room, to find it. We looked though several stacks of framed prints and photographs, but it wasn’t there. So we fanned out, looking through other rooms and closets. Eventually, we regrouped in the junk room, both of us ready to give up. Then my daughter said, “Turn around.” There on the wall behind me was the picture we were looking for. It had been in hanging front of us the entire time.

We went downstairs laughing that we had missed what was right before our eyes. Our encounter with “blindness” reminded me of the story in John 9. Here is a recap of that story.

One Sabbath, Jesus and his disciples encountered a man blind from birth. Jesus spit on the ground and made enough mud to cover the blind man’s eyes. Then Jesus told the man to go wash in the Pool of Siloam. The blind man went and washed, and he could see for the first time. The dismayed neighbors took the healed man to the Pharisees where the man began a long interrogation process. The judges, however, refused to believe the man, and called in additional witnesses; in this case, the man’s parents. Sure enough, the parents testified, this was their son, and he had been blind since birth.

But that wasn’t good enough. The Pharisees called the healed man in again, this time warning him to give the glory to God because they “knew” that this man Jesus was a sinner. The healed man replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see.”

But the court still wasn’t satisfied. They asked the man to repeat the story of his healing, this time accusing the man of being a disciple of Jesus, and reminding the man that they didn’t even know where this fellow Jesus came from.

Clearly exasperated, the healed man said, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” Predictably, the Pharisees were enraged at this lecture and threw the man out, telling him that he’d been a sinner since birth.

Jesus heard what happened to the formerly blind man. Jesus talked to the man, and the man became a follower of Jesus. Pharisees, who were hanging around nearby, overhead the conversation between Jesus and the healed man. They asked Jesus, “What? Are we blind too?”

Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin, but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.” (Recounted from John 9:1-41 NIV)

Like the picture that my daughter and I searched for, the Pharisees, men of "vision," missed what was right in front of their eyes--Jesus, the very Savior that they were waiting for. On the other hand, the man who had no vision, allowed a stranger to pack mud on his eyes. Then by faith, he walked to the pool, washed off the mud, and he could see--for the first time in his life.

Then, the time that should have been a wonderful celebration for the healed man turned into an ugly court hearing. But the healed man’s testimony is absolutely classic. With the eloquence of a man whose entire life changed by Jesus, the healed man says simply, “One thing I do know, I was blind, but now I see!”

And don’t those words from the blind man encapsulate our own testimony about Jesus?

Sometimes, I 'envision' the grand things I want to do for Jesus. That's when He reminds me to keep it simple: “I didn’t call you to be great. I called you to follow Me.”

Jesus doesn’t call most of us to be great. He calls us to simply testify of His life-changing presence in our lives. Nothing fancy. Nothing difficult. He calls us to tell what He has done for us—to simply tell our story to one person, then another, and another.

And in that way, we spread His light; and in that way, He continues to open the eyes of the blind.

To Accept Jesus as Your Savior

There is only one way to gain life-changing joy and peace in your life, and that is by accepting Jesus Christ as your Savior. To accept Christ as your Savior, pray this prayer.
“Lord, I am a sinner. I believe that Jesus died for my sins on the cross and rose from the grave. I turn away from my sins. I ask You to forgive me and to be my Savior. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
If you prayed this prayer, the next step is to find a Christian church and tell the pastor about your faith in Jesus. The church can guide you through baptism and your joyous growth in Christ.

Contact

Our Hope Is in Him

(c) Charlotte Lowrie

An Invitation to Contribute

If you have experiences from your walk with Christ that you'd like to share, please e-mail me your story. I can then post your text. All posts and articles are reviewed to ensure appropriateness for this forum. You can e-mail me at charlotte@everydaywithchrist.com.

John 8: 12 (NIV)

"...I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

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The articles and photos on this site are provided for your inspiration and reading pleasure. Please do not copy the text or images without permission. For reprint permission, contact charlotte@everydaywithchrist.com

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Psalm 84:10-11 (NIV)

"Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere;
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless."

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Matthew 28: 19-20 (NIV)

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."